Chapter 87: Changes
The more time Ethan spent in this place, the more he understood just how valuable it was for him.
He had entered in the afternoon, meaning he still had several hours before he needed to leave.
If he stayed here for days, it would become night outside, and Da Shu would be alerted.
If Da Shu saw that Ethan had not returned after such a long time, he would report him to the sect, as required by the sect\'s rules.
To avoid all these problems, Ethan decided to stay until evening, leave for dinner, and then return here at night.
This way was better.
He wanted to avoid any unnecessary trouble for now.
So, he spent the next few days in this dimension, training to get more familiar with his new body.
Well, maybe new wasn\'t correct, since even though it had undergone several changes, it was still the same body overall.
He used this time not only to get used to his body but also to train more with Bai Yu.
She, still being an ethereal figure, couldn\'t train directly with him, but she could instruct him and then test him in his sea of consciousness.
During this period, he learned several things.
First of all, after receiving Bai Yu\'s bloodline, he noticed a drastic increase in his stats.
[Strength: 115 --> 165]
[Agility: 109 --> 149]
[Intelligence: 117 --> 136]
[Soul Strength: 132 --> 136]
Almost all his physical stats had increased by several levels.
Ethan wasn\'t sure how, but even his soul stat, which is usually very hard to increase, had advanced by 4 points.
In other words, it was like he had received the boost he would normally get from advancing several levels.
The same could be said for his other stats.
His strength had increased by 50 points, which was equivalent to the improvement of five levels.
The same went for his agility and intelligence stats, which also increased significantly.
Ethan tended to consider each 10-point increase as equivalent to what advancing a level would give.
He had noticed that, on average, his stat points increased by 10 with each level, even when he advanced to level two of the Qi Refining stage.
He didn\'t know if this would remain unchanged in the future, but for now, it seemed like it wouldn\'t.
Considering all this, his current strength was on par with a Qi Refining cultivator of at least level 6.
Just thinking about this lifted Ethan\'s spirits.
Ethan thought that the stronger he became, the harder it would be to increase his strength.
Which was normal, considering the amount of Qi needed for higher levels just kept increasing by a lot.
When moving from the Body Refining stage to the Qi Refining stage, the total amount of Qi needed increased by a factor of 10.
It wasn\'t an extra 100 Qi per level anymore but rather 1000.
Ethan feared that at the next stage, the amount needed for each level would increase by another factor of 10, meaning +10,000 for each new level.
Just thinking about it gave Ethan chills.
So, even though his cultivation speed was much faster than any other disciple of the Phoenix sect, he knew he would face his fair share of difficulties in the future.
But seeing that the system seemed to provide boosts like these to increase his strength, even with all the new challenges of leveling up, reassured him.
Another thing he noticed was that the changes in his body weren\'t limited to his strength and other various stats but also his appearance.
He had already noticed that his skin seemed to have a much healthier and more beautiful complexion, and his height had also increased.
But after seeing his reflection in a mirror, he noticed that his face had changed a lot too.
His features had become much sharper and more handsome, and most importantly, the color of his eyes had changed.
What was once a light brown had turned into a crystalline blue similar to Bai Yu\'s, with even his pupils now more like those of a reptile.
This fact sent him into a panic because it was already going to be hard enough to explain his change in appearance, but how was he supposed to explain the change in his eyes?
Ethan started to consider covering them indefinitely.
Since there were no sunglasses in this world, he thought about opting for an eye patch.
With his spiritual sense, which had increased a bit with his advancement to the Qi Refining stage, he was able to perceive the environment around him within a radius of at least 50 meters.
But luckily for him, he found out he wouldn\'t need to.
Bai Yu told him that, while he couldn\'t change the color of his eyes back to what they were before, he could manipulate the shape of his pupils.
It took him days, but he eventually learned to control it from Bai Yu.
The problem with his eyes remained, but at least now he could provide a reasonable explanation for their color.
It wasn\'t uncommon to find objects or pills to reshape one\'s appearance, and it just so happened that contact lenses also existed in this world.
Not exactly like the ones from his previous world, but something similar.
From what he had heard before, mostly in certain professions, including those of assassins, people often needed to alter their appearance.
The reason this wasn\'t a solution before was that the use of these items wasn\'t foolproof.
Although the color change could be attributed to the lenses, the same couldn\'t be said for the pupils.
A cultivator stronger than Ethan would immediately notice he was wearing contact lenses, and with their spiritual sense, they could determine what was behind them too.
Ethan knew there were other objects, more useful and safer than lenses, for this purpose, but the rarity of these items, combined with their high price, discouraged Ethan from trying to obtain them.
In the end, Ethan spent a total of 2 weeks training in the minor dimension, and during all that time, he didn\'t forget to follow his usual basic routine.
He refined more pills, getting ahead with his usual delivery schedule by at least a few days.
The same went for his recipes and the spiritual cauldron.
He completed the first requirement for advancing the cauldron and accumulated a good amount of system points, once again surpassing the threshold of a thousand points.
In other words, he now had what he needed to advance another of his recipes to the perfect grade, but instead of doing that, he decided to upgrade his basic recovery pill recipe.
---------------------------
FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:
Here\'s today\'s chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
As usual, if you have any comments, suggestions, or errors to report, don\'t hesitate to do so below.
See you tomorrow with another chapter.